


Benevolent

by LittleRedFox33



Category: Heartless - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-01-25 13:27:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21356971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRedFox33/pseuds/LittleRedFox33
Summary: The sequel to Heartless. Will Catherine get Jest back?
Relationships: Jest/Catherine Pinkerton (Heartless)
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [K](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=K).

The Queen of Hearts  
“I warn you my dear child, if I lose my temper you lose your head. Understand?” - The Queen of Hearts

Catherine sat on her throne, Raven perched on her shoulder, waiting for his next victim. He dug his claws into Catherine’s burgundy dress in anticipation. She paid no attention to his claws because she felt the same way. Ever since her heart was taken by The Sisters, she felt nothing but rage and lust for blood.  
The King sat on the throne to the right of her, grinning and giggling happily.  
What an idiot, she thought.

A man came limping through the grand, cream-colored doors of the palace, handcuffed and the palace guards flanking him. The king’s grin disappeared. The man knelt before the king before turning his pained eyes to Catherine as she stroked the lustrous plumage of her feathered friend. Raven dug his claws even deeper into her dress, itching for his ax.  
“Soon,” she whispered to him.  
“What is your name?” The king asked.  
“Larkin, Your Highness.”  
“What is your crime?” the king asked, his voice quivering.  
“I was planting white roses in my garden.”  
“And you know why that was wrong?” the king asked him, his voice destabilizing with each answer.  
“Yes, Your Highness.”  
Catherine felt rage build up in her chest but it calmed as Raven hopped down from her shoulder. There would be no blood today. Raven looked at her, his anticipation diminished. Sorry, she mouthed to him.  
“My Queen, what is Larkin’s sentence?” The king turned to her.  
“He is to be sent straight to the dungeon where he will stay for life.” Catherine smiled humorlessly.  
Larkin was dragged by the guards to the dungeon, silent tears streaming down his face.  
Until tomorrow, she thought, getting up from her uncomfortable throne.

With a heavy sigh, she walked through the grand halls of the palace, Raven flying over her. Fortunately for him, the palace had high ceilings so he could fly around and stretch his wings whenever he wanted to.  
Catherine retreated to her room for the night. She sat at her vanity while her maids pulled pin after pin out of her hair, setting them on the dresser as she pulled her silky, light blue nightgown on. Raven went to his own room where he could be in human form. She had demanded that Raven and she have bedrooms next to each other. 

She had wanted a perfect life with Jest. Jest. The thought made her heart ache. Rather, the spot where her heart used to be. She spent every night thinking and dreaming about him, but then remembering he would never come back to her. She would wake up in the morning, black roses that crumbled into ashes as soon as she touched them, wound up her bedpost, creating a canopy above her head.  
She laid down on her bed, thinking about Mary Anne. Mary Anne. Oh, how much she missed her. Mary Anne always knew how to make her laugh, how to cheer her up on rough days. She gave an amazing shoulder massage. Catherine decided she couldn’t sleep at all so she got up and marched into the bathroom, turning the shower on, and massaging soap into her skin to untie all the knots in her back and legs. As queen, all she did was sit on her throne and issue punishments to crimes.  
She stepped out of the bathroom, changed and much more relaxed. She was about to collapse on her bed when she noticed a small card sandwiched between the cushions by the bay window she had in her bedroom. She walked over and picked up the card, examining it. She twirled it in her fingers, noticing a small dripping black heart in the center. It looked scarily identical to Jest’s black kohl heart that had been on his cheekbone. Her chest ached as she walked back to the bed, tucking the card safely into a secret pocket of her nightgown. 


	2. Chapter 2

The White Rabbit  
“I'm late, I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say 'hello, goodbye,' I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!” - The White Rabbit

The next morning, Catherine woke up to luscious, pink bleeding heart flowers. She caressed the petals, relishing in how they crumbled in her fist. She opened her fist and a tattoo of a bleeding, black heart shone in her palm. She gasped. The card and now the flowers. What was happening? Just as she got the card out of her skirt, the maids knocked at her door. She jammed the card back into her pocket again and tucked her emotions back into the heart she wished she had.  
She wished she could go back to the way she was. The proper, bubbly Lady Catherine of Rock Turtle Cove whose love for baking made her happy. The girl who always had a little bit of powdered sugar or flour in her hair. She had once said to Cheshire “that Catherine was a fool.”  
“Come in,” she said, sitting down at her vanity mirror.  
The maids creaked the door open and scurried around her room to find a suitable dress. She let the maids work wonders with her hair. By this time she looked into the mirror, the simple, fair Catherine was gone. She walked down the wide staircase to the throne room where the King was chatting happily with the White Rabbit. He checked his pocket watch occasionally. His pocket watch, rimmed with diamonds, the same one Jest had given him after pulling him out of a hat. She smiled sadly to herself.  
“My Queen?”  
Catherine was yanked back into reality.  
“Yes, Mr. Rabbit?” she said, momentarily disoriented.  
“What of his sentence?”  
“Oh. Off with his head.” She was angry with herself for suddenly being so vulnerable. 

The White Rabbit scurried off, muttering something about being late to an important meeting.  
Catherine’s blood boiled. She felt like crying but no tears threatened to spill. She turned and left the room. She couldn’t stand to be in this place anymore. She needed Mary Anne. She needed to talk to her parents. She needed closure. She needed to bake. What she needed was her old life back, her heart, her passion. Jest. 

❋

“I would like to request a carriage to take me to the Marquess of Rock Turtle Cove.”  
“Absolutely, My Queen.” Raven flew to round up a carriage.  
“Raven,” she called.  
“Yes, My Queen?”  
“Please, call me Catherine.”  
“As you wish.”  
She smiled as the carriage pulled up. She was going home.  
Her carriage stopped in front of the house -- her house. She got out and rang the doorbell. Her mother opened the door with a lethargic look on her face but as soon as she saw Catherine dressed in a flowery sundress and black flats, her expression lit up.  
“Catherine! My darling, what are you doing here? I thought you would be off doing your. . . queenly things.”  
“I need to talk to you, Mother.”  
Her mother ushered her into the house and she sat in the familiar chair she used to sit in as a child.  
Her mother and father sat on a chair across from her, watching attentively.  
“I want to get a divorce,” she said simply.  
Her mother’s eyes bulged out of their sockets.  
“Catherine-” she started.  
Catherine put up her hand up.  
“I do not love the king. I loved Jest and you had the audacity to say that a woman couldn’t start her own business. You had the audacity to say to me that I had to marry the king. Do you know how much I went through to please you? My own mother and father couldn’t see my pain and how much pressure was put on me. All I have ever wanted was to please you but now I realize that I don’t need to do that anymore. I am my own person. I will open a bakery. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”  
For once, her mother was speechless.  
“My last day as queen will be Friday.”  
Catherine got up and exited her childhood home, not holding back for anything. 


	3. Chapter 3

The Gardens

“Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they’re always there.”- Christy Evans

Catherine was about to take her daily stroll through the red and yellow gardens when a voice came drifting towards her, but it seemed quite alarmed. She whirled when she recognized the voice: Mary Anne. She rushed forward and engulfed Mary Anne into a hug they were both unprepared for.  
“I’m so sorry, you were and still are my best friend and I blamed Jest’s murder on you and I pushed you away. I’m such a terrible friend! Worst of all, I wished I hadn’t saved you and let you die! I’m sorry. Sorrier than you know.”  
Catherine felt Mary Anne squeeze her tighter and said, “I forgive you.” Tears slid down both of their faces.  
Catherine pulled Mary Anne behind a shrub and crouched down so the gardeners couldn’t see them.  
“Mary Anne, are you willing to open a bakery with me again? I’m fairly sure my parents will agree. I gave them a long lecture on how they treated me.”  
“Of course I will, Cath. It’s my dream as well,” Mary Anne smiled.  
“Oh! I meant to tell you that Jest is alive,” Mary Anne blurted.  
Catherine reeled back immediately and so fast that she fell backward. She plopped down onto the grass, the tears still flowing out of her wide eyes.  
Zero and a million thoughts zipped through her mind and eventually, her tears dried and she looked up at Mary Anne.  
“Let’s go,” she said.


	4. Chapter 4

The Card

Mary Anne and Raven walked on either side of Catherine as they walked back into the palace.  
“I’m assuming you found the card in your bedroom, correct?” Mary Anne grinned at her.  
“You planted it, didn’t you,” Catherine drawled, sparing a glance sideways to Raven.  
Raven smiled sheepishly.  
“I was the last person to know?!”  
Catherine was forced to whisper-yell. Otherwise, the echoes in the palace would give away their newfound secret.  
Unfortunately, the King rounded the corner and spotted them, running down the stairs, almost tripping and falling on his face in the process.  
Catherine wished he had.  
She hated how he wasn’t prepared to do anything for his society. The Jabberwock hadn’t attacked in over a year but there was still a lot of fear in Hearts and she hated that people couldn’t keep their windows open to hear the cheerful birds. Cages lined the windows in every building. She could never jump out of her window onto the beautiful willow tree that almost begged her to sit on it and enjoy the view.  
The King walked up to them, giggling.  
“Darling, would you like to accompany me to the festival held by your father today?”  
She glanced toward Mary Anne. Mary Anne nodded her head and signed something in sign language.  
J-E-S-T W-I-L-L B-E T-H-E-R-E  
“Of course, my king.”  
“I told you to stop calling me ‘king’. Call me Winston.”  
Raven couldn’t help but snort. Thankfully, the king didn’t notice.  
Catherine felt like screaming with joy and could feel her chest warming with excitement.


	5. Chapter 5

The Marquess of Rock Turtle Cove

Catherine chose a special dress for that night. It was a shimmery black-red color and her makeup was impeccable though simple. She decided for a dark red lipstick and auburn eyeshadow. Her blue eyes shone against her thick, dark brown lashes. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail with braids running through them. She wasn’t entirely prepared to see him again. She was scared that she would get angry at him for leaving her behind in his plans.  
“Cath? Are you ready?” Mary Anne stood in the doorway of her room. Raven lurked closely behind her. Cath let out a long sigh.  
“Yeah, I’m ready.”  
“You look beautiful,” Mary Anne and Raven said in sync.  
Cath blushed. “Thanks.”  
A carriage pulled up with white horses. It’s like the universe knew.  
All of her subjects prepared for her wrath, she had never tolerated white.  
She smiled and to everyone’s surprise, she giggled like a little schoolgirl.  
As soon as Raven and Mary Anne had boarded the carriage with Cath, euphoria took over. She couldn’t stop smiling. Raven couldn’t stop smiling either. Then she realized, she had never seen Raven smile.  
“You have a pretty smile, you should do it more often,” Mary Anne complimented.  
He blushed and looked away.  
Mary Anne turned to Catherine. Cath wiggled her eyebrows and now it was Mary Anne’s turn to blush. She wished that Raven and Mary Anne would get together, they would be so cute.  
They all smiled the whole way there.  
When Catherine and her friends all reached the festival, they couldn't contain their excitement. Raven appeared reserved but Catherine could tell he was looking out for him as well.

Catherine half-ran over to the dance floor, grabbing the hand of a cute guy that she had caught staring at her. She tried to appear normal.  
As usual, the King was gallivanting around and having found her parents, giggled at their politeness. She wanted to throw up. She scanned the crowd as she danced. Her partner smiled kindly down at her, being at least a foot taller than her. All she could see were green, brown, blue, and hazel eyes. None of the honey lemon eyes she had fallen in love with. She looked straight into the eyes of her partner and that’s when she gasped. She pulled her partner away from the crowd and behind a rather shady tree. She gave up and ended up looking straight into the eyes of her partner, a wave of dizziness hit her. She pulled her partner away from the crowd and behind a rather shady tree, crouching down and holding her head in her hands.


End file.
